Rotorway EXEC 162F N241WC

Summary

On 15 February 2003 at about 21:10 local time, a Rotorway EXEC 162F registered N241WC was involved in an accident near Westford, Massachusetts, United States. One person was on board and one was seriously injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

15 February 2003 at 21:10

Classification

Accident

Location

Westford, Massachusetts, United States

Coordinates

42.4667, -71.2833

Aircraft

Rotorway EXEC 162F

Registration

N241WC

Category

Helicopter

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Bedford → Westford

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

IAD03LA033

1 person was seriously injured.

The inflight loss of control due to the loss of tail rotor effectiveness.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot had just made a steep approach to a confined area and was pulling into a full hover, when the helicopter began a rapid rotation to the left. The pilot applied full right pedal, but could not stop the rotation. He did not perform an autorotation from a hover because he was concerned of landing hard, rolling over, and shedding parts that could have possibly hurt his friend, who was standing nearby. Instead, he lifted the helicopter back up and tried to fly to a vacant area. During the ascent, the pilot was able to slow the rotation by reducing power, but was never able to completely stop the rotation. He was not able to perform an autorotation because he had no forward airspeed, so he put the helicopter down into trees. The pilot stated that he had experienced Loss of Tail Rotor Effectiveness (LTE) in the past, but due to the strong head wind, and the sudden rapidness of the rotation, he did not feel that this was an LTE situation. An FAA inspector reported that one of the tail rotor pitch change links was fractured, but did not take possession of the link at that time. The pilot/owner initially agreed to send the pitch change link to the Safety Board to be examined, but later determined that the part had failed during impact, and discarded the wreckage.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.